Former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies has been selected by the Forward Wales party to stand for election as a Member of the European Parliament.

The former Caerphilly MP and AM joined the Forward Wales party in February after leaving the Labour Party a month earlier.

The new party - established in November 2003 by another disaffected Labour politician, John Marek - selected Mr Davies as one of its four candidates to fight the European election on 10 June at a meeting in Wrexham on Thursday.

Mr Davies, left Labour in January after 40 years as a member saying devolution was in "a mess".

Speaking after his selection, Mr Davies said: "Politics in Wales has changed irrevocably.

"What we need is a political party which is prepared to stand up and say we want
to put Wales's interests first.

'Emerging parties'

"In my view politics in Wales has changed.

"If you look at Europe, when you do
have devolved government you have the emergence of parties who capture that
ground.

"Certainly it is my view that there is a large space which has been vacated
by both the Labour party and also by Plaid Cymru."

He added that in European elections people were much more prepared to
"experiment" with their votes.

Wales will elect four MEPs in the 10 June poll, on a system of proportional
representation.

Resigned post

Mr Davies, described as the "architect of devolution" after successfully steering the Government of Wales Act through Parliament, faced disgrace after his "moment of madness" on Clapham Common in October 1998.

Within days, he was also forced to quit as leader of the Wales Labour Party.

He then resigned his AM post in March last year following controversy over newspaper reports of an alleged woodland sex liaison.

He had been MP for Caerphilly from 1983 until 2001, when he stepped down to concentrate on Welsh assembly politics.

Mr Marek himself left Labour after he was deselected as the party's assembly candidate for Wrexham, but regained the seat as an independent in last May's assembly elections.

He launched Forward Wales last November and is the Welsh
assembly's deputy presiding officer (speaker).